Splitting Hairs

To Bob Murphy of California Pacific Research Inc.: You may benefit from putting your money where your mouth is ("Splitting Hairs," by Mark Stuart Gill, Nov. 10). If your hair restorer is "the poor man's minoxidil," why don't you lower the price and target a less-affluent market segment? You could gain unit volume and total profits over unit profit, although the product category is very competitive and this is going to be an ongoing struggle. There has always been room in this country for competition.

On March 18, 2011, an official from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission named Chuck Casto called together the NRC delegation on assignment with him in Tokyo. "We're in never-never land," he told them. Seven days earlier, a magnitude 9 earthquake had rattled a complex of six nuclear power plants known as Fukushima Daiichi, roughly 150 miles northeast of Tokyo. Then came nature's second, more devastating blow: a tsunami that swamped the complex, flooding its electrical generators and putting its three operating reactors out of commission.

Popular legend says the Inuit have a hundred terms for snow. Metalheads may have as many to describe their favorite breeds of evil. Delineating the differences between the hyphenated genres doom-metal, black-metal, sludge-metal and Viking-metal may be splitting hairs, but the San Francisco duo Om (Al Cisneros, left, and Chris Hakius) cherry-picks the best elements of each to craft a gut-pummeling yet hypnotically minimalist take all its own.

Conflicting reports surfaced Tuesday on the state of Hosni Mubarak after the former Egyptian president was said to have suffered a stroke in prison. The state-run news agency MENA said that the 84-year-old Mubarak had suffered clinical death, but other reports say Mubarak was still on a respirator and not clinically dead, according to state and independent news media . To add to the confusion, clinical death doesn't necessarily mean total death. "Clinical death" is a medical term meaning that breathing has ceased and the heart has stopped pumping blood around the body, but, for at least a short while, the brain is still alive.

Conflicting reports surfaced Tuesday on the state of Hosni Mubarak after the former Egyptian president was said to have suffered a stroke in prison. The state-run news agency MENA said that the 84-year-old Mubarak had suffered clinical death, but other reports say Mubarak was still on a respirator and not clinically dead, according to state and independent news media . To add to the confusion, clinical death doesn't necessarily mean total death. "Clinical death" is a medical term meaning that breathing has ceased and the heart has stopped pumping blood around the body, but, for at least a short while, the brain is still alive.

The image of President Obama, standing in the White House East Room Sunday evening, solemnly declaring that America’s public enemy number one, Osama bin Laden, was dead, was published in newspapers all over the world. But what if that photo wasn’t real? A provocative post on the website of the Poynter Institute, which provides training for journalists, details how the president recreated the first 30 seconds of his televised address, including his approach to the podium, to the nation for the still photographers present after the speech was concluded.

Bono and his band of merry men are not ones to miss a window of hope. And so on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration -- just hours after the Irish rock ambassadors entertained the president-elect with their MLK Day anthem and their unofficial post-9/11 elegy at the Lincoln Memorial -- U2 unveiled a new single. Way to claim your spot on the "Yes, We Can" caravan, boys! "Get on Your Boots" is a first taste from the band's new long-player, "No Line on the Horizon," which hits the global marketplace Feb. 15. Pundits already are splitting hairs about "GOYB" -- does it sound like Elvis Costello circa "Pump It Up" or the Temptations classic "Ball of Confusion"?

The debate over which Super Bowl XLV team has the edge can be argued convincingly from either side. On this, however, there's no splitting hairs: Pittsburgh defensive end Brett Keisel has the best, most-prodigious, most-talked-about beard of the week. And not just by a whisker. "There's no other beard that matches it," Keisel conceded, trying to maintain some modesty, "so it's just 'The Beard.'" Just about every other Steeler has some sort of facial hair ? including their bearded coach and quarterback ?

Larry Bird cut his own hair at the Olympics. He did this, he said, because he found out that a haircut in Barcelona would cost him $80. Eighty dollars truly is an outrageous price for a haircut, but Larry Bird earns $80 about every tenth of a second. I know why Bird really cut his own hair: He is afraid of Mystery Haircuts. Mystery Haircuts are the haircuts you get when you are away from home and can't wait until you get to your regular barber.

Question: A recent brochure from a New York dealer lists an 1883-O silver dollar, grade MS-63 +, at $3,995 for a roll of 20 coins, and grade MS-64 + at $7,995 for a roll of 20. This figures out at about $200 or $400 per coin. I'm not sure what they mean by phrases like MS-63 +. I have a silver dollar dated 1883-O that I purchased several years ago labeled BU (for $3). How does that compare with the MS designations? I also have a 1922 Peace dollar with the BU designation.

The image of President Obama, standing in the White House East Room Sunday evening, solemnly declaring that America’s public enemy number one, Osama bin Laden, was dead, was published in newspapers all over the world. But what if that photo wasn’t real? A provocative post on the website of the Poynter Institute, which provides training for journalists, details how the president recreated the first 30 seconds of his televised address, including his approach to the podium, to the nation for the still photographers present after the speech was concluded.

The debate over which Super Bowl XLV team has the edge can be argued convincingly from either side. On this, however, there's no splitting hairs: Pittsburgh defensive end Brett Keisel has the best, most-prodigious, most-talked-about beard of the week. And not just by a whisker. "There's no other beard that matches it," Keisel conceded, trying to maintain some modesty, "so it's just 'The Beard.'" Just about every other Steeler has some sort of facial hair ? including their bearded coach and quarterback ?

Bono and his band of merry men are not ones to miss a window of hope. And so on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration -- just hours after the Irish rock ambassadors entertained the president-elect with their MLK Day anthem and their unofficial post-9/11 elegy at the Lincoln Memorial -- U2 unveiled a new single. Way to claim your spot on the "Yes, We Can" caravan, boys! "Get on Your Boots" is a first taste from the band's new long-player, "No Line on the Horizon," which hits the global marketplace Feb. 15. Pundits already are splitting hairs about "GOYB" -- does it sound like Elvis Costello circa "Pump It Up" or the Temptations classic "Ball of Confusion"?

Popular legend says the Inuit have a hundred terms for snow. Metalheads may have as many to describe their favorite breeds of evil. Delineating the differences between the hyphenated genres doom-metal, black-metal, sludge-metal and Viking-metal may be splitting hairs, but the San Francisco duo Om (Al Cisneros, left, and Chris Hakius) cherry-picks the best elements of each to craft a gut-pummeling yet hypnotically minimalist take all its own.

NEWSPAPERS AND magazines have been filled with talk of a conservative foreign policy schism. The Republican Party comes off sounding a lot like ... well, Iraq: its charismatic leader deposed, long-suppressed feuds have bubbled up into a bloody and seemingly intractable feud. I don't think that's quite right. The conservatives are more like a married couple bickering over how to break the news to their kids that they've gone broke and have to sell the house and move to a poorer neighborhood.

Still, the hair. Always, the hair. The Red Sox's us-against-the-world, us-against-the-Curse thing ultimately plays out on the field, where they hit with abandon and generally pitch because the rules say they must. But it has its, uh, roots in their decision to drive past the barbershop every afternoon on their way to the ballpark, their unrestrained locks representing the group's commitment to bring a World Series championship back to Boston. Or maybe they just don't have time.

Last month, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. shut off the power in the Rancho Penasquitos apartment Adele Mahaley shares with her daughter. Indignantly, Mahaley points out that her account was paid up. It was her sister's bill, from another apartment, that SDG&E was after. "It may be legal blackmail," Mahaley complains, "but it's blackmail." Mahaley and her sister, Jean Lett, had shared a place in El Cajon. In August, after Lett lost her job, they agreed to split up.

Blame it on Bree Walker. The former KGTV (Channel 10) anchor, currently working in New York, established a new tradition for women in San Diego television news. Her hair looked simply mahvelous. "Her hair was the talk of the town for a while," KCST-TV (Channel 39) reporter Rory Bennett said. Walker's hair, carefully coiffed every weekday by Merle of Hillcrest, set the standard. Yes, it's unfair, silly and superficial.

There is every indication that tonight's Sugar Bowl game between Louisiana State and Oklahoma will be played. Despite reports No. 1 USC's victory in the Rose Bowl on Thursday has rendered the bowl championship series title game meaningless, or at least drastically diminished, two teams are expected to show up at the Louisiana Superdome and maybe even put on a show. Just so we're clear on the facts, Oklahoma is No. 1 in the BCS standings but No. 3 in both human polls. Louisiana State is No.

The pageantry of a state visit is the highest ceremonial treat Britain has to offer another country, and Queen Elizabeth II doesn't hand the accolade out like candy. By tradition, there are just two such occasions a year, and no Russian leader has been invited for one since Queen Victoria sat on the throne.